Mrs. Fletcher: A Novel

I did not find this believeable or plausible. It seemed to be a combination of every male's fantasies about divorced middle aged women. The only reason I gave it 2 stars instead of one was that writing was decent.

Written well enough to keep you coming back. Great topic but one gets the sense that the author writes from a preconceived notion of what each of the characters represents. A little contrived. Ending is "nice". Is it real?

Perrotta is a genius at honing in the quirky little details of current culture. In this case, it's 46 year old Eve, a divorcee, and her clueless, wayward son, Brendan. Along the way they meet various people and the plot is driven from these interactions. They are misfits: all of them want to fit in, but don't know how. If I had to sum it up, I'd say the main themes are identity and loneliness.

I couldn't put the book down and read it in 2 days, so in the last chapter, which happened a bit too abruptly for me, I felt disappointed. So, 4 stars instead of 5.

Tom Perrotta's writing is masterful. He captures the nature and values of middle-class America by putting
his characters in dilemmas which reflect our ongoing moral struggle with the issues of the day.

Tom Perrotta's writing is masterful. He captures the nature and values of middle-class America by putting
his characters in dilemmas which reflect our ongoing moral struggle with the issues of the day.

I enjoyed Mrs. Flecrcher. It was a fast light read- a much needed interlude these days. Mr. Perrotta a funny clear picture of a divorcee and empty nester with his funny dialogue and likeable characters.

A hilarious and realistic tale that explores loneliness and insecurities through the eyes of a mother and her college age son- with an engaging and modern cast of supporting characters that added depth and perspective. Well written and a lot of fun!

I found the story of Eve Fletcher (Mrs. Fletcher) quite compelling and had a strong desire to keep reading.

The fantasy of the "hot mom" (or so-called MILF as described in the book) is quite real. The author did an excellent job with the character Julian and his pursuit of Mrs. Fletcher. Kept me wondering what would happen next.

The book had its slow points and you might think the story jumped around a bit, although I think that was necessary. How else can the author weave certain story points simultaneously?

I will tell you the book had an impact on my thinking towards people with life challenges like the character Dr. Fairchild (I'm afraid to spoil it for you, so I'm intentionally sparse on details). Not that I was ever hostile or anything negative towards people in a similar situation. I can more easily sympathize now.

Side notes:
* I bought this book after reading a recent interview about the author and book.
* Read the book in a couple of days.
* I'm a dude, married, 2 kids and a dog :)

I marked the book 'okay' because that was the most accurate rating available. If 'disappointing' was an option, that would have been my choice. Unlike Little Children, I found this to be a rather run of the mill novel that was a far step down the ladder from Children. I find this often happens to writers of fiction - they need to keep writing, but some of it is really pedestrian. To be truthful, I do get turned off when an otherwise accomplished writer includes words like 'gonna' in the narrative - not when someone is speaking it, that's OK, but in the non-speaking narrative. It's just another reflection of the dumbing down of modern discourse. That aside, there were too many boring parts of the book. It is certainly NOT a page-turner, unless one is (as I found myself doing) speed-reading. He can do much better than Mrs. Fletcher, and I hope he does. I'm still puzzled as to why NPR featured an interview with Perrotta, unless it was just to titillate the listening audience with the 'juicier' aspects of the book.

Sit back, read, and enjoy Tom Perrotta’s novel MRS. FLETCHER. Mrs. Fletcher, aka Eve, is a 40 something divorced woman who works as the director of a senior citizen’s center, lives in the suburbs, doesn’t exactly have a bevy of girlfriends that she can call on, and her only son, Brendan, a good looking, athletic, normally distant just graduated from high school on his way to college, are both on the cusp of something.

Eve is not sure what to expect of her new- found freedom. Truth be told, she is sad about being an empty nester. Brendan, on the other hand, cannot wait to say goodbye to his mom and start the keggers that he imagines are non-stop, make some new friends, and say goodbye to his girlfriend back home even though he gave her a fine send-off, and find some new ones.

For Eve, things take a turn that she was not expecting. And, not of the senior center gone wild variety. She enrolls in an evening class at the local community college and her new friends and a co-worker shake things up in her otherwise dull suburban world.

When Brendan shuns his high school girlfriend and his overly interested roommate he isn’t left with the party life he expected. His first mistake involved the girl who caught his attention on campus and boy, was that a lesson learned.

The one thing that he and his mom have in common – an identity crisis. Read how this plays out and what they each learn about themselves in the process. Perrotta lends a great deal of humor and insight to pertinent subjects on the table today from gender identity, sexuality, bullying and more.